Welcome to the official website of Joyce Tyldesley, archaeologist, Egyptologist, lecturer and author.

Tutankhamen’s Curse: The Developing History of an Egyptian King

Available in paperback from 25 July 2013

[An] authoritative book… If Tyldesley finds the curse stories empty nourishment, the core of her book reveals Egyptian history to be full of more satisfying riches. Sifting through the findings from Tutankhamen’s tomb, and the arguments of Egyptologists since, she aims to resurrect the man behind the mask. She succeeds: Tutankhamen emerges as a credible figure, a ruler presiding over a turning point in history, when his father Akhenaten’s heresies were abandoned and the polytheistic traditions revived… That has always been Tutankhamen’s power: … to charm all who encounter him. As Tyldesley confesses, he kindled her schoolgirl fixation with ancient Egypt. She calls this “my own personal version of Tutankhamen’s curse”, but if it inspires books like this, the rest of us may consider it a kind of blessing.